A platter of my life experiences..

More Indian than you think!

Frankly speaking, I haven’t interacted with a lot of foreigners in my life; very few might be. But that doesn’t mean that I am not aware what’s going in the world.

Before this topic came up, I had actually never given a thought about what makes my being Indian unique or what values make me stand apart from the others.

Well..this is the story of my life, which many might find boring and unbelievable. I was raised in small towns by middle-class parents. I was a “good” girl as in never did against the wishes of my parents, listened to what they said (sometimes willingly and sometimes unwillingly), respected them, understood their financial and emotional status. Many Indian kids grow up this way. Of course, it has both pros and cons.

I had an arranged marriage. Well..the West would never comprehend how arranged marriages work as two people who are complete strangers spend the rest of their life with each other. I met my husband with both families around, had a small chat of about 1 hour, and we both decided that we were good for each other. Touchwood, that gut instinct of both really worked and here are we both are having spent 15 years of glorious married life. It isn’t that no adjustment was required. We Indians have this great quality of adjusting in any situation with lots of perseverance and patience.

When I had my first child within the same year of marriage, I decided to bring my kid on my own without any help; of course my husband was there, and my career took backseat then. But till date I have never considered it to be SACRIFICE. It was my choice, my decision. This is an Indian value again. Many women willingly give few years of their life totally for their children. I am not saying that working moms don’t; after all a mother is a mother, but it takes immense amount of self-power to completely immerse oneself in motherhood.

Today my kids are kids who respect and understand me and my husband the same way that I used to. That value system is somewhere ingrained in us Indians. I consider myself to be a successful mother and wife. Today I am again back in my career doing interesting things that I would have never ever thought I could do in my life!

My ingrained Indian values of family love, little sacrifice, adjusting in any situation, tolerance have made me a successful human, employee, friend, daughter, sibling, wife, and mother.

Indian values are appreciated worldwide; the family system, the tolerance, the ease with which they adjust, the warmth, etc.

Globally Indian food, yoga, classical dance and music are becoming popular. Example is Chef Vikas Khanna whose Indian cuisine has been a hit with the Americans; even the President of the USA.

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2 thoughts on “More Indian than you think!”

How well you have ascribed your Indian ness. I agree with the fact that our values n tolerance is very popular world wide. I am a total indophille and love showing off my country to peeps via travel n food.